Bloc Party News

I heard some wonderful news this week......

Bloc Party is playing Melt Festival in Germany! I'm excited! I want to go! Also on the line up is Gossip, The Rapture, Two Door Cinema Club... I really want to go!
After not much news of the band since 2009 recently we heard Kele was back with the band and they were recording a fourth album, I was excited but not convinced.
Now my big delema is whether I book tickets to Germany or wait for the Reading festival line-up release on the 12th of March. Decisions, decisions.

Luke Robinson - New Year, New Place

A friend of mine just released his first video clip, check out Luke Robinson:

Makes me miss summer in Sydney.

Let’s Dance to Joy Division!

I love The Wombats! I think they may actually be my favourite band, they defiantly are today J Last night was my first gig at the Brixton Academy which I was excited about in itself. The academy is one of London’s best music venues and only a km from my flat, so I hope there will be many more visits to come.

We missed the support acts but arrived just in time for The Wombats to start. The show was awesome! Great lights, great crowd, incredible sound, all round perfect. I can’t remember seeing a better show, or enjoying a show more. They played all songs from This Modern Glitch and A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation plus a few new ones. They finished with Let’s Dance to Joy Division, which ended with quite a bit of bad dancing all round.

Before the gig we went to check out a new bar – Electric Social. It doesn’t look much from the outside, I have actually walked past it a few times and wondered what it was. It was decked out in the eclectic London style with bookshelf wallpaper, Union Jack couches, and top hats for lampshades. Wednesday night is open mic night and a couple of really impressive musicians did a set. I will defiantly be returning.

Photo from http://www.electricsocial.com/

What are you listening to?

My fave is the guy listening to LCD Soundsystem.

Rockin' it with Little Red

I am a big fan of Little Red, so when I received a phone call a couple of weeks ago to say I had won 4 tickets, I was supper excited!

The gig was held at the TAKE 40 Live Lounge at Moore Park for Channel Ten. The gig itself was 'intimate', but it is pretty hard not to be rubbing shoulders with someone when 100 people are squished into a room the size of a one bedroom appartment. It was a good show, it it was a nice change to be so close to the band... but unfortunatly the sound wasn't great.

There is a link to footage of the night, check it out here.

Amanda Palmer - Ninja Gig @ Carageworks

Following her massive gig at the Opera House on Australia, Amanda Palmer put on a Ninja Gig at Carageworks Saturday night. Amanda Palmer AKA half of The Dresden Dolls, half of Evelyn Evelyn is an alternative type with an aversion to shirts and has a massive fanatical fan-base of mostly 18 year olds in corsets and alternative types.

It was a pretty entertaining gig with plenty of guest musicians, ukuleles, chit chat and funny stories that went for over 2 hours!

This was my favourite song of the night "Gaga, Palmer, Madonna":

Here are a couple of my photos from the night, check out her blog for more photos blog.amandapalmer.net

Kim Boekbinder, Amanda Palmer & Tom Dickins (The Jane Austen Argument)

Amanda Palmer

It's that time of year......

Happy 2011!!!

It is that time of year again when we pick ourselves up, dust ourselfs off and quite possibly promise never to drink again.... but more importantly it is time to vote in Triple J's Hottest 100!!!

2010 was a great year for music and it was really hard to choose just 10 tracks. Last year Mumford & Son's took the crown with 'Little Lion Man' (see the full 2009 countdown here) this year I would put my money on Mark Ronson's track 'Somebody To Love Me' featuring Boy George & Andrew Wyatt because Boy George is sstrangely awesome.

Here is my list of the best songs of 2010 in no particular order:

Vampire Weekend - Holiday
Professor Green - Just Be Good To Green {Ft. Lily Allen}
Little Red - Rock It
Mark Ronson & The Business Intl - Bang Bang Bang {Ft. Q-Tip & MNDR}
Mark Ronson & The Business Intl - Somebody To Love Me {Ft. Boy George & Andrew Wyatt}
LCD Soundsystem - I Can Change
Sia - Clap Your Hands
Gorillaz - On Melancholy Hill
Klaxons - Echoes
Angus And Julia Stone - Hold On

And remember.... if you don't vote I am not going to listen to you whinge about their not being enough Kanye West, female artists, Australian artist etc etc Australia Day evening.

If you are bored check out Triple J's article 2010: A Year That Was.

Song of the Week... Crave You

My favourite song this week is 'Crave You' by anonymous Sydney DJs Flight Facilities and vocals by Giselle Rosselli

Flight Facilities have remixed tunes by Bag Raiders, Toecutter and Sneaky Sound System but this is their first original track, and exciting for the upcoming album. The track will also be on Giselle's upcoming solo album.

Gig Catch Up - U2 & Jay-Z

When I arrived at work last week I found an email saying, spend $40 at the local shopping centre and get U2 and Jay-Z tickets. Whoohoo! Love a free gig and I love Jay-Z! I think he is one of the best rappers of our time and a dam good producer. U2.... well they have made a lot of great songs, but I don't find them very exciting.

Never mind that it was a Tuesday night, I gathered a group from work and off we went to the massive U2 360° Tour at ANZ Stadium. With over 80,000 sets, I'm not surprised they had a few thousand spare tickets. Our sets were so high that everyone looked like ants below... you could barely make out what was happening on the massive big screen.

The absolutely massive tour won U2 the Billboard Touring Award for highest grossing tour in 2009 and again in 2010. With the thousands of seats (quite a few of the empty at 8pm) surrounding the massive four-legged stage setup "The Claw" which has even set a world record for the largest concert stage structure! And with a supporting act like Jay-Z I had high expectations...

Jay-Z set started around 8pm to a pretty poor crowd turn out. Most of the songs were set to backing tracks, which is not a problem, except when you could not hear a word he said.... it was bad. You know if is bad when you start thinking "can you please stop rapping so I can hear Alicia Keys". I was really sad that he did not do 'Death of Autotune' but then again, he may have... I just didn't hear it.

After Jay-Z people started turning up, especially the oldies. U2 then graced the stage in a spectacular fashion. It was obvious that the show was all for them, when the claw was lit up it looked amazing, and they actually sounded good :)

They did heaps of big hits and they sounds great. It was a great performace but having seats so far away made me wish you were watching it at home on DVD. I had to leave before the end and unfortunately missed out on what was apparently a memorable appearance from Jay-Z during “Sunday Bloody Sunday”.

Song of the week... Somebody To Love Me

I never thought I would be featuring a song with Boy George but the new tracks from Mark Ronson & The Business Intl. ft. Boy George 'Somebody To Love Me' is incredibly catchy. Ronson said he was inspired by Boy George's 'Do you really want to hurt me' and asked him to feature on the track. For some reason I find it very addictive. Can't wait for the official video clip.. so here is a live performance filmed for the BBC.




Check out Boy George's crazy face and neck tatoos! And I love Amanda Warner of MNDR on keys with her massive glasses.

Song of the week... White Knuckles

OK Go (AKA the guys dancing on treadmills) are back with another crazy single take video clip. These boys are rad. Now I want a dog.

And the Winner is... The xx

This years coveted Mercury Music Prize goes to The xx for their début album 'xx'. The UK group have been around for a few years now but only started releasing music last year.

Here is my favourite song from The xx 'Crystalised' which was used on Gossip Girl. That show always has great music.

I'm A Rockstar

I like Rihanna, I really do. She is crazy (but not Gaga Crazy), has really catchy songs, and as I have said before I have a lot of respect for anyone confident to go sans-pants and I don't even think Rihanna owns pants.

I was just watching Rihanna's single Rockstar 101 featuring Slash and there are lot of things that puzzle me.... check out the video clip:



Firstly what has Slash have to do with it? He is not in the clip, and even TripleM can get him in their clip. Maybe just Rihanna wanted to dress up as Slash and smash a few guitars.

Another guest in the video clip is Travis Baker on drums, this one I think is even stranger.... can you hear any drums? As much as I like Rihanna, I think she should stick to what she does best.... catch pop songs and crazy outfits.

You have to pay me to listen to .....

What band would have to pay you to listen to their music? Hmmm... I could name a couple...

The Reclusive Barclay Brothers, an unsigned band in the UK has gained a lot of attention recently by doing just that. They are offering to pay £27 (around $50 AUD) to 100 people who listen to their single 'We Could Be Lonely Together', randomly selected from their online mailing list. Which for around $5000 plus the price of the video clip it is a pretty cheap marketing campaign to get a lot of international media attention and therefore getting a lot of people listening to the track, who hopefully liking it and buying it. Quite smart.


But personally I think they should have spent a few more pounds on a better stylist and photographer... and more thought into a better band name.

The video clip is really interesting, with an explanation of what they are doing. The music is nothing to get excited about, but I have heard worse on the radio.



If you are keen to signup to their e-newsletter the website is NewLowForMusic.com

What band would you like to collect a few dollars from?

Taylor Momsen - The Fashion Police

Recently ex-Gossip Girl actress / wannabe rock star Taylor Momsen said in an interview:

"People think pop is rock, and the lines are getting blurred. Now Rihanna's wearing fuckin' leather jackets, and it's really annoying"

Hmmm... this brings up a number of questions... I wonder what she would say about my mum also wearing a leather jacket? Is she international fashion police or just in the music industry? But really who would ever take fashion advise from a 17 year old who dresses trashier than the average roadside hooker?


Check out some of her other classic outfits here.

MTV Video Music Awards

Love her or hate her (or in my case, not really fussed) Lady Gaga has already taken over this years MTV Video Music Awards. My first thought is how will she top the crazy she pulled off last year, or if you don't remember here is a pic:

Lady Gaga is not only the most popular person on Facebook, she has just broken another record after getting 13 nominations at the MTV Video Music Awards! This is the most ever for any artist in a single year. She has two songs "Bad Romance" and "Telephone" are up for Video of the Year.

This is what she had to say about it:

"I'm so honored for all the little monsters and self-professed freaks of the universe, to have more VMA nominations in a single year than any artist in MTV history. Ironically, I'm even more proud it's an unlucky number: 13."

Although one lovely lady also got a few surprise nods. Florence Welch, of Florence + The Machine, has "Dog Days Are Over" nominated for four awards: Best Rock Video, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography and also Video of the Year. Is Kanye invited this year??

Eminem also earned 8 nominations for a male artist. Justin Bieber, Ke$ha, Pink, Katy Perry and Usher were also nomincated for awards.

The MTV VMAs will be held on the 12th of September.

Interview with The Drums on Triple J

I heard a great interview the other days with Jonathan Pierce and Jacob Graham of the The Drums. They have just finished up their first and sold out tour of Australia including the biggest festival Splendour In The Grass.

They spoke with Triple J's The Doctor about how image is just as important as the music, how they can't play instruments and how they are going to give it all up when they get 'good' at what they do.

Check out the interview on the Triple J website at www.abc.net.au/triplej/media/s2972485.htm

New York, I Love You But You're Stuck In My Head

New York has given us an impressive list of musical acts including LCD Soundsystem, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Strokes, Lady Gaga, Madonna, Jay-Z, Vampire Weekend, The Drums, Danger Mouse, Velvet Underground, The Bravery, Interpol, Public Enemy, Run-D.M.C., The Ramones, Blondie, Beastie Boys and The Rapture just to name a few!

For some reason songs about New York often get stuck in my head. I have never been to the city, but it is top of my list of places I want to go.

Here is a list of my favourite (most contagious) New York songs:

1. "New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down" by LCD Soundsystem

2. "Moving to New York" by The Wombats

3. "New York City Cops" by The Strokes

4. "Empire State of Mind" - Jay-Z feat. Alicia Keys

5. "This Mess We're In" by PJ Harvey and Thom Yorke

And finally what would a list like this be without a bit of Sinatra....

6. "New York, New York" by Frank Sinatra

Do you have any favourites to add to the list? For some inspiration check out Wikipedias extensive list.

Florence + The Machine @ Splendour in the Grass

I wish I was at Splendour in the Grass this year. I was really keen to see The Strokes, Mumford and Sons and Florence + The Machine but 14 hours is a long drive.

Instead I got Florence + The Machine tickets for this Friday which I am very excited about. From all reports it sounds like they were the highlight of the festival with the amphitheatre reaching capacity even before they started. People were so keen to see them they tried to climb or push down the security fences.

Can't wait for Friday!

Here are a few photos from TripleJ of Florence + The Machine playing to a packed main stage at Splendour. Check out more TripleJ pics and all the Splendour action live at www.abc.net.au/triplej/events/splendour/10/

Song of the week... Bang Bang Bang

My song of the week brought to you all the way from Persher is "Bang Bang Bang" by musical genius Mark Ronson, the superstar producer behind Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen, Robbie Williams, Ghostface Killah, Daniel Merriweather and of other artists who's names you wouldn't see together anywhere else. "Bang Bang Bang" also features rapper Q-Tip and Amanda Warner from the electro duo MNDR. Ronson's last album Version (with covers of Radiohead, Coldplay, The Smiths and Kaiser Chiefs) was awesome. I am really excited to hear the new album 'Record Collection' set to be released around October this year.

Check out the clip, the crazy intro runs until 0:35. Enjoy!

Random fact: Mark Ronson's little sister is the DJ Sam Ronson, Lindsay Lohan's ex girlfriend.